BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 09 2024
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
Snowbank Loop
Entry Date:
May 22, 2009
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
So, we continued on to Benezie. The first campsite at Benezie was a disaster and we were beginning to regret going forward, but the last campsite along the northwestern edge of the lake was actually pretty nice. My brother caught a nice pike even as I was filling up the water and we had a bony, pike fillet for dinner. It rained that night, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. [paragraph break]
Thursday was much more difficult. Our only full day of hiking, we began around 9 am and figured we would have plenty of time. However, our first trick was finding the Snowbank Trail. We had to backtrack from the far end of the Benezie Loop. The loop itself was in okay shape, but I dare say my opinion of it improved dramatically by the end of the day when we faced what lay ahead. Finding the Snowbank Trail wasn't particularly difficult, as it was marked by a large post, which was rather nice considering how few markers there are out there. We were beginning to think we had gone past it when we hit it. [paragraph break]
We made our way up the Snowbank Trail for a little while and then we came to a campsite. A little confused, we broke for a snack, thinking this must be Disappointment Lake, though no campsite was listed on the map. Only when we didn't find a trail going forward from there did we realize that we had turned into a campsite off the main trail and ended up on Parent Lake. The campsite itself was very nice, though the marker for it was difficult to see (obviously). Heading further up the trail we did come at some length to the portage between Parent Lake and Disappointment Lake. It was here that we saw people at both portage entrances. It would be the only time we saw people the entire trip and it was a welcome feeling. [paragraph break]
We stopped for lunch at the campsite along the western edge of Disappointment Lake, which was only disappointing for its extreme amounts of black flies. With a fire going, however, they were manageable. No fishing luck on Disappointment, though I had a nice 30-35" pike follow my spoon right back to me before disappearing back into the depths. My brother ran into a turkey at the latrine, which was the most significant wildlife we saw. Birdseye Lake was the next sight heading north on the trail. I think this was the prettiest lake all trip. Elevated above the rest and not accessible by canoe, the water was a deep azure blue. [paragraph break]
We passed a very nice but open-to-the-wind campsite on Snowbank Lake just before the Boot Lake portage. It was well-kept and guarded by a garter snake that simply didn't want to get out of our way, though we found no way to get down to the water to fill back up. [paragraph break]
It was only another quarter-mile from here until we reached the portage between Snowbank and Boot Lake. This is where the trip got infinitely more difficult.[paragraph break]
The problem: The place where the trail crosses the portage between Snowbank and Boot Lake was hardly marked at all. We spent over half an hour trying to find the place to cross the stream and when we crossed we did so at the wrong place and had to bushwhack our way up along the stream until we found the trail. That was not fun at all, and just a little frightening. GPS or no GPS. It definitely didn't help that the Forestry Service map shows no stream between Snowbank and Boot. When we did find the place where we were supposed to cross, after reaching the other side, it was about fifteen-feet wide with swift-moving water and probably three-feet deep--certainly no adequate place to ford the creek. [paragraph break]
From here the trail was hardly marked and very difficult to follow. It rose and fell frequently and there were only a few rock markers to distinguish where we were supposed to go. We decided to press on to a campsite marked on the forestry map north of Grub Lake. The trail took us on an excursion deep into the swamps north of the lake. Finally, we came to what was left of a beaver dam, which we were to cross before beginning our descent back towards Grub Lake. However, the dam was little more than a bit of mud with a foot or more of water on both sides. Getting muddy and gross was bad enough, then not being able to find the campsite on Grub Lake made it all the worse. [paragraph break]
We finally made camp at the first available site along Snowbank Lake after pondering camping off the trail once or twice and giving up on that idea only because there was no water. Exhausted and wary of what lay ahead the next day, we hit the hay almost immediately after setting up camp, de-ticking ourselves the entire time. [paragraph break]
Friday we had to hike about 7 miles back to the car, and we were eager to get it over with. However, once the trail headed out toward Wooden Leg Lake it actually became fairly visible again. I had spent a good portion of my Thursday night tossing and turning, worrying about the state of the trail ahead with no alternatives but to press forward, but it was actually fairly decent. The area north of Wooden Leg seemed well cared for. If it weren't for the ever-present, annoying black flies this day would have been just fine. My brother was exhausted, however, and we were happy to put those last few miles behind us and hit up the Ely Dairy Queen. My brother swore never to hike again, and I assured him next time we'll take a canoe.